Jul 24, 2012

Chemmeen Ada (Prawns Ada)




Chemmeen Ada (Prawns Ada)

Chemmeen ada ia a popular dish in Malabar Muslim cuisine !!!

Makes : 6 - 7

Serves : 3

Ingredients

Please use same measuring cup to measure rice flour and water.

For the dough:

1 cup / 200 g (Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity) raw rice flour (ari podi) - preferably fresh

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon ghee

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

2 teaspoon extra oil

1 banana leaf ( washed and cleaned ) ( Cut banana leaves into 15 cm x 15 cm square pieces). One can make approximately 8 pieces from a banana leaf of normal size.

Method

Boil water in a thick bottomed vessel / saucepan. Add salt, jeera and ghee. When water (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups - not more than 1 3/4 cups) starts boiling add rice flour and mix well. Rice flour should be well mixed with water. Stir continuously. Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Add 1 teaspoon oil to the rice dough and knead well. Divide into 6 - 7 lemon sized portions.

For the filling:

You can use leftover thick prawns curry

or

Easy Prawns Curry

An easy & tasty prawns curry, made of Indian spices and also without coconut paste and coconut milk !!!

Ingredients

For prawns:

500 g prawns (225 net weight after cleaning and deveining)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Wash, clean and devein the prawns. Drain out water completely. In a wide bowl, mix prawns with turmeric powder and salt. Cover and keep aside for half an hour.

Other ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, finely sliced

6 curry leaves

6 garlic cloves, chopped

½ teaspoon red chilli powder (or to taste / ¾ teaspoon for more spicy)

½ teaspoon pepper powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 tablespoon water

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Marinated prawns

Method

Dilute red chilli powder, pepper powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder in 1 tablespoon water and keep it ready (spice mix).

Heat oil in a pan. Add finely sliced onion and fry till golden color on a medium to low heat.

Add curry leaves and fry well.

Add chopped garlic and fry well until light golden color.

Add diluted spice mix and stir well on a low heat for 2 – 3 minutes until thickens / water dries up / raw smell goes.

At this stage, add marinated prawns, cover again (do not add water) and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes or until done and prawns tender (light pink in color). Overcooking will make the prawns hard in texture. Switch off the heat and stir well nicely.

Final preparation:

Clean banana leaf. Smoke this leaf on flame for a few seconds so that it becomes flexible and easy to fold.

Cut banana leaf into 7 - inch square pieces.

Take a piece of banana leaf. Keep a lemon sized rice dough portion over it. Keep another piece of banana leaf smeared with oil (with oiled portion facing down) the dough. Press evenly to form a thin circle of rice dough of approximately 10 - 12 cm diameter. Carefully remove the leaf on top.

Now one will see a thin circle of rice dough. Keep 4 teaspoons prawns curry mixture in it length wise along its centre. Fold into semi circle and seal the edges tightly - such that the outer covering is the banana leaf which was placed initially.

Repeat this process for the remaining dough / filling.

Arrange these raw prawns adas in a flat steel bowl and steam in a pressure cooker ( without weight) or or in a steamer for 15 - 20 minutes on a low to medium heat or till done. One can notice a color change in banana leaf.

Serve hot. Once the banana leaf is peeled, one will get a nice aroma of prawns curry.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

actually 8 ounce is the size of 1 cup in usa but it is the equivalent of 237ml.

saji said...

niya ,very nice ,idea also,if do do not mind ,please consider my suggestion,we can do add cook on hot plate also,other thing chemmen roast add little lemon juice or cocum ,it give more taste ,....keep it up

manju said...

niya,your recipes are perfect,today i tried unakkalari payasam,it was really mouth watering and the taste is sooo goood